TCU Professor to Lead Fort Worth Data Center & Infrastructure Commission
Mike Slattery, director of TCU’s Institute for Environmental Studies, has been selected to lead the city of Fort Worth’s Data Center & Infrastructure Commission. This new body of 11 voting members will be charged with conducting comprehensive, fact-based evaluations of data center development and its implications for the city.
Stathis Michaeledes, W.A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr. Founding Chair of Engineering, will also serve on the commission, and seven additional TCU faculty members representing the Louise Dilworth Davis College of Science & Engineering and AddRan College of Liberal Arts will join academic partners from other universities, including Cornell University and the University of Texas at Arlington, in supporting the commission’s research and analysis.
“Data centers and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence present real opportunities, but they also raise important questions about energy, water, infrastructure, neighborhoods and long-term development,” Slattery said.
The commission’s work will examine five primary areas: electricity and energy; water use; land use compatibility; neighborhood impacts; and economic development considerations. Its membership is designed to bring together technical and academic expertise, community representatives, industry, utilities and infrastructure providers, and environmental perspectives.
Slattery, also a professor in the Department of Environmental & Geological Sciences in Davis College, will coordinate the commission’s work, oversee research support and prepare its final report and recommendations to the Fort Worth City Council to be delivered on Nov. 3.
“Our responsibility is to examine those questions carefully and objectively,” Slattery said. “I want this to be a process that separates evidence from rhetoric, gives stakeholders confidence that their perspectives have been heard, and ultimately provides City Council with recommendations that are practical, defensible and grounded in the best available information.”
Slattery has led interdisciplinary teams addressing complex environmental and energy-policy issues, testified before the U.S. Congress and served as the lead expert witness in Devillier v. State of Texas, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. His research and writing have addressed issues including Texas grid capacity, AI-driven electricity demand, renewable energy integration and energy security.
The commission will serve in an advisory capacity, developing recommendations concerning data center policy and regulations within the city of Fort Worth’s authority. Through his leadership of the commission, Slattery will help bring academic expertise into one of the most important conversations about Fort Worth’s continued growth.
Learn more from the City of Fort Worth, including the commission’s full membership and academic partners supporting its work.